Or, the Further Adventures of Hose-Nose

On the recommendation of the LJ Brain Trust, I bought myself a hose-cozy for the CPAP. So now I don't look like Chuck Yeager when I sleep, I look like stylish Chuck Yeager when I sleep!

The good news, it really works. :D I slept deeply all night, with no drying out of my nose and throat, and with no rain on my face at 3:00 a.m. I am quite the happy camper about this. :) It's now 7:30 a.m. and I have more energy than I did all day yesterday!

It does sort of irk me that such a vital piece of the equipment should be "sold separately," but I suppose there are some places where such an accessory would be redundant. Death Valley, say.

It's slightly larger than the average telephone answering machine, plus hose and mask. Fairly transportable, actually, but I'm generally running so tight on suitcase space that I just prefer not to take it. I either completely crash or don't sleep at all at conventions anyway, so it's not like it's going to help me that much while I'm there.

I'd been told I can't put the CPAP in checked luggage, and they ALWAYS make me take the unit out of the carry bag when going through the X-Ray, and almost always take it aside to swab it down for a chemical check, but it's gone with me to a bunch of conventions and other flights.

You get wet? Do you have a humidifier? siegferret suggested I ask about it when I got mine, but Kaiser said they don't really recommend it except in extreme cases.

My unit came with a humidifier built in, and I need it or I get dried out overnight and wake up coughing. However, before adding the "hose cozy," the water was re-condensing on its way up the hose and "raining" on my face.

As of last night, the rain issue seems to be fixed, and it worked much better. :)